The problem, and its Solution

To treat each other with sensitivity and empathy is to treat the environment with responsibility, for what other incentive could there be for people to take responsibility for their environmental impact? This is of course assuming that people are aware of their impact. As for being aware and simply not caring, well there is nothing we can do about that. We could always use the selfish incentive ‘you’re going to be killed by the floods too!’, but wouldn’t that be ignoring the root of the problem?

On a philosophical note, the root problems of the kind pertaining to carelessness: selfishness, greed, pride- all the classical vices- can never be totally eradicated from the face of human nature, and in some place, somewhere, someone will always be inclined to them. I don’t think we can expect a saintly revolution, as we’ve never been able to expect that at any time in human history, but what does seems more realistic is exercising a bit of common sense: Buying from seller ‘A’ sustains poverty, pumps unnecessary pesticides and chemicals into our natural environment and causes needless CO² emissions which in turn are causing the catastrophic warming of our earthly abode; seller B does none of these things. Who to buy from?

Come on, people! It's that simple!…How frustrating then, that we cannot do something so easy yet so damn important?

Relying on the hopes that most people on the whole do have common sense, we need to push the common sense incentive more than ever. We need to take environmentalism from the clutches of the stereotype of tree-hugging extremism, and make it one of the most popular agendas of our time. I’m positive or at least hopeful that most people are actually reasonable beings deep down and would choose the sensible option if only they knew that it was the sensible option and if only they were given enough opportunities to make that choice. Thus I am convinced our main problems lie in two areas: ignorance and lack of opportunity.

Society still doesn’t cater for the environmentally conscious who have to go out of their way to act according to their principles. Most ordinary people, although meaning well, put their principles on hold for lack of time in their busy and stressful lives to actually make a change- for change requires time, effort and commitment.

Therefore, I am going to outline three priorities in my agenda for change. The first is education education, education! (no, these are not all three priorities, just the first). We need more people to be more educated about exactly why this is such an enormous and pressing problem, because quite frankly, not enough people know why. The only two newspapers giving any real coverage to environmental issues being The Guardian and The Independent, the fact that The Sun is the best-selling newspaper in Britain is indicative of the enormity of the ignorance we have to tackle. Britain’s biggest environmental magazine (The Ecologist) is not stacked in one of Britain’s biggest book stores (WHsmith- at least not at my branch). The latter fact just places in a nutshell how far from basic enlightenment we really are.


The need, then, is to educate the general public, the average Joe, to bring the issue to their doorsteps and to the forefront of society. Showing shocking things is not distorting the reality- it is the reality. We need to publicise shocking images that don’t get enough publicity- like the photographs of wildlife filmmaker Rebecca Hosking which only got a black and white showing on page 16 of The Independent.

The second priority, once we’ve harnessed more people on our side, is to create more channels for them and the well-wishers that have been on our side all along, to make changes. These channels will take the form of more eco-businesses (all aspiring entrepreneurs welcome), charities, recycling, re-using and reducing schemes. The final channel- reducing- comes more under my third priority and this is the hardest one to implement- the advocating of changes to general lifestyle, attitudes and approaches to life- the type where you sacrifice creature comforts for greater internal satisfaction (not buying that latest iPod and striking up conversation with strangers instead, not buying the latest Kate Moss fashion collection because you believe you’re beautiful the way you are and because your true genuine friends tell you so, too- yes, this type of lifestyle change). And how do I propose to push these radical ideas? Well to write about the lives of revolutionaries past and contemporary, of course, who have gone against the grain of society to stand up for causes that were so pressingly important and, as in this case, urgent. But the most effective way to implement such a radical change is to quite frankly initiate it yourself, to show that it can be done, to use all your bodily energy to push these ideas by being yourself, the bastion for this change; a living, breathing, talking, walking visionary. I’m in, are you?